IN OUR OPINION

Editorial: An abrogation of their duty

Published: Wednesday, June 12, 2013 at 10:35 p.m.

Last Modified: Wednesday, June 12, 2013 at 10:35 p.m.

Crises bring a community together, and it has been awhile since we have seen the people of Ocala/Marion County unified on an issue like they are over the pending layoffs of 261 school employees, almost all of them teachers and teacher aides. So far, the public's reaction suggests the majority of people believe laying off teachers is bad for our children, for our schools and for our community,

Yet, when the Marion County School Board met Tuesday for the first time since Superintendent of School George Tomyn announced the layoffs to help fill a $29 million gap in the 2013-14 school budget, the issue was not even on the agenda. Not until the "Board Members Comments" portion at the end of the meeting did board member Nancy Stacy call for a stop to the madness and a re-evaluation of the 2013-14 budget to prevent the layoffs. She offered a lengthy presentation on "zero-based budgeting" that no doubt overly simplified the task ahead of us in restoring the teaching jobs, but at least she recognized that something needs to be done, that the community wants something to be done.

As for the remainder of the School Board, member Bobby James was probably most realistic. He said the process of rewriting Tomyn's budget proposal cannot wait, and everything should be done to save the teachers. Board Chairman Ron Crawford gave a tutorial on how the Legislature has all the power when it comes to school funding — and it does — but offered little in the way of ideas for rectifying this community crisis, despite his vast years of experience as the board's most veteran member. That left board member Angie Boynton and Carol Ely, both of whom said virtually nothing.

The School Board missed a leadership moment Tuesday night. As the policy-making body of our school system, it is their job to set the direction for our public schools. It is their job to question the decisions and actions of Tomyn, who is elected to handle the day-to-day operations of the Marion County Public Schools. As it was, our School Board members did not even engage in the most basic give and take on an educational issue that has been the talk of the town for a week and a half. Had it not been for Stacy, we are not sure the School Board would have even addressed the layoffs — we won't even get into the board ignoring the county's below-average FCAT scores that came out last week — and that represents nothing less than an abrogation of their duty to the schools and people of Marion County.

Stacy and James are right. Start working now on a Plan B that salvages the teaching jobs, or as many as possible. If layoffs are inevitable, certainly Tomyn and the School Board can find jobs that are less essential to the educating our children to eliminate, or downsize, among the system's 6.000 positions.

The School Board failed to recognize and respond to the community's angst over the pending teacher layoffs. Once again, we ask them to do their jobs — set a direction for our school system that does not require a massive layoff of teachers.

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